Autographic register



Nov. 30, 1937. w. E OLIVER AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER Filed Nov. 13, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 30, 1-937. w. E. OLIVER AUTOGRAPHIC REGISTER Filed Nov. 13, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 viii WaZZerE 0212293 r Patented Nov. 30, 1937 ENETE STATES ATENT OFFICE Claims.

This invention relates to autographic registers, and the object is to provide a particularly simple and yet efficient mechanism of this nature for dispensing sections from a so-called 5 packs comprising a number of webs folded back and forth in zigzag form.

My invention will be well understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherel0in I have illustrated by way of example a single embodiment thereof.

In these drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the register with parts broken away;

" Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2; and Figs. 3, 4, and 5, sections on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, these four figures showing the webs of the pack in different positions.

Y I believe that my invention will be most readily understood if I first describe didactically the particular mechanical construction of the embodiment thereof shown in the drawings, and thereafter by tracing the operation thereof in use, the principles exemplified thereby will become apparent.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the register comprises a body 1 of boxlike form with an open top and open end 9. Herein a false bottom H and an end wall [3 arising therefrom in spaced relation to the open end 9 form a container to receive the pack and position it against longitudinal movement while the webs are being dispensed. For simplicity the pack is herein shown to consist of but two webs A and B folded back and forth in zigzag form, conveniently along lines of perforations which divide the webs into sections which are usually printed forms each being a sales slip, a receipt or some other form of ticket. Obviously, however, more than two webs may be used as is customary in the art. Herein the space between the false bottom Ii constitutes a storage compartment to receive those copies of the inscribed I tickets which it is desired to retain, access being 45 had to this storage compartment through the open end 9, and, as best seen in Fig. 3, a finger hole I5 may be provided in the bottom I to facilitate the withdrawal of the stored tickets.

Hinged on the pins H at the right-hand end of the body is a table or platen I9 adapted to rest like a cover over the open top of the body and extend over the compartment in which the pack is stored. In a position substantially aligned with the adjacent end of the pack is a trans- 55 verse guide 2|, herein formed by the edge of the table, integrally rolled over to provide a blunt, curved edge, providing a guide surface of rela-; tively large radius, say inch, over and about which the webs are drawn from the pack to be disposed above the table for inscription. There is a substantial, unobstructed space at the left of the guide 2| for reasons which will appear. In the embodiment'of the invention shown, the table as a whole is directly above the pack and the guide 2| substantially aligned with one end thereof. I consider such an arrangement preferable because of its compactness and certainty of action, but, less conveniently, the guide might be positioned one or perhaps even more complete fold lengths from the adjacent end of the pack.

enerically speaking, the guide is adjacent one end of the pack and substantially one or more fold lengths from the opposite end. Likewise, the end folds-of the web on which an inscription is to be made need not necessarily lie directly adjacent the guide, but may be spaced a fold length therefrom.

As seen in Fig. 1, a-compartment 23 may be formed at one side of the body 1 to receive a roll of carbon paper C, a portion of which is drawn out over the table and interposed between the portions of the webs which lie thereon in well known manner.

Hinged at 25 at the left-hand end of the body of the register is a framelike cover 21, having flanges 29 adapted to overlie the edges of the forms or tickets spread out upon the table, and defining between them an opening through which access is had to the tickets to write thereon. The right-hand end of this opening is herein formed by a round crossbar 3| forming a guide about which the paper is drawn in the process of removing from the table the inscribed tickets and pulling a new set of tickets into position. Beyond this crossbar, as best seen in Fig. 1, the flanges 29 of the framelike cover are cut away to form an exit opening at least aswide asthe tickets, and the table l9 may have lugs 33 struck up therefrom extending through this opening, providing lateral guides for the webs at this point. To permit the ends of the tickets on the table to be grasped for withdrawal, a portion 35 thereof may bestruck downwardly, as best seen in Fig. 3, to provide the opening 31 for access of the thumb to the under side of the tickets when in the position of Fig. 2 to permit the ends thereof to be grasped by finger and thumb.

At one side of the path of the webs a short blade 39 projects upwardly from the table. When the webs have been drawn out under guide 31 r and in an upwardly treading direction passing above this blade until the line of perforation or fold between the tickets just inscribed and the new set which has been drawn out over the table is in alignment with the blade, the extending portions of the webs may be moved downwardly to cause the blade to break or cut the end of the line of perforations, facilitating the tearing ofi of the inscribed tickets along this line. The action will be well understood by reference to Fig. 1, in which the tear has been shown as begun by the blade 39 and propagated for a short distance along the line of perforations ii. For reasons which will more fully hereinafter appear, the blade 38 is so positioned that its distance from the further side of the guide 2! is substantially equal to one or more folds of the pack, herein one such fold or one ticket length. Thus in Fig. 2, the line of perforation where the previously inscribed set of tickets has been torn off lies just to the left of the blade 39, and the next succeeding fold is just to the left of the guide 2| and may, as herein shown, contact with an opposed spaced portion of the casing of the machine, herein a flange 43 of the framelike cover 21, all of which will be more fully understood hereafter.

In accordance with my invention, that face of the pack from which the folds are drawn is yieldingly pressed against an opposed surface, the force, however, being such that the pack may yield to the spring of the webs as they assume the looped or rolled up positions shown in the various sectional views of the drawings. ince the webs are herein drawn from the top of the pack and turned rearwardly over the table is, I utilize springs 35 secured to the bottom H of the pack container on which the pack rests, the tension of the springs being such that they balance the weight of the pack and also lightly press it up toward the bottom of the table. The opposing abutment surface in the form of the invention shown comprises opposite the central portion of the pack the bottom of the table, at the left the bottom of the guide 2! and at the right the depressed tongue 35, this, however, being incidental to the provision of these parts at the ends of the pack primarily for other purposes.

I will now describe the operation of the register shown. The general purpose of a mechanism of this kind is to maintain homologous parts of superposed tickets in registration in such manner that an inscription on the upper ticket in a given portion thereon will cause the carbon inscription on the underlying ticket to be accurately similarly positioned. The present-day efficiency of printing and folding operations is such that when the pack is delivered from a manufacturer the parts are in accurate register, and the problem is to preserve this register in the operation of positioning of successive sheets for inscription.

Referring to Fig. l, the free end of the pair of tickets overlying the table in position for being written upon rests against the left-hand end of blade 39, and the next fold is just beyond the transverse guide 2! as previously explained. Since the tickets upon the table are somewhat spaced from the body of the pack, this means that the next succeeding fold has been pulled slightly from its original position, causing the right-hand end of the second succeeding fold to be slightly lifted as illustrated, forming a spring which depresses the right-hand end of the pack :against the springs 45 and causes a slight tension on the first succeeding fold which tends to draw together the ticket ends where they nest in angular position.

After the tickets on the table are inscribed, the right-hand ends thereof, viewing Fig. 2, are seized and drawn outwardly toward the right, above the blade 39. The beginning of this movement tends to lift the curved portion of the second succeeding tickets appearing at the right in Fig. 2 toward the vertical, further depressing the right-hand end of the pack, and providing a substantial resistance, until the fold line passes from the vertical and the webs assume a rolled up position similar to that shown in Fig. 3. This rolled up loop travels along the under side of the table, depressing the pack as it goes, and oifering a certain resistance to the drawing out action.

When, however, the fold line passes to the left of the guide 2!, as indicated in Fig. 3, the adjacent sections of the web are permitted to bend sharply, one relative to the other, about this line of weak ness and the parts assume substantially the position of Fig. 3. As this action takes place, there is a marked decrease in resistance to further withdrawal, which serves as a signal to the operator that the operation of withdrawing the ticket is concluded. The slight further movement which takes place while this signal is being felt moves the fold to the position of Fig. 2 or past the same to the position of Fig. 4, with the leading portion of the succeeding ticket wrap ed around the curve of the guide, and, in this latter position, a marked resistance to further movement is felt; so that, to draw the tickets beyond this position, after the previous diminution of tension, would require a voluntary action of the operator. If the operator now lets go of the end of the ticket, the part of the following ticket which is bent around the curve 2| will straighten like a spring into the unobstructed space at the left of the same, drawing the released ticket above the table, and the fold line will assume the position of Fig. 2, and may cooperate with the wall 43 as a. gauge. In practice, this release of tension by the operator would be effected by his tearing off the set of tickets which he had drawn out past the severing device 39, and the action is facilitated by the tearing off action, since the new ends of the severed webs are positioned inwardly of the blade 39. The position. of the parts is then as in Fig. 2, except that the next succeeding fold, instead of being disposed under finger 35, is looped substantially as shown in Fig. 4.

After the next set of tickets has been inscribed, as they are drawn out of the machine, the loop in Fig. 4 will roll up as in Fig. 5, depressing the left-hand end of the pack against the springs 45. As the loop shown in Fig. 5 disappears on further traction of the webs, the end portion of the ticket will pivot freely on the succeeding fold line, extending up in a substantially vertical position from the end of the pack, and causing a decrease in resistance, giving the same signal as in the previous case. The springs 45 tend to position the left-hand end of the pack against the lower side of the guide, and a further movement, somewhat longer than that in the previous case, draws up the slack without sub stantial resistance, until an increase in resistance indicates that the end portion of the succeeding ticket has been wrapped about the arc of the guide above the point of contact, substantially in the manner illustrated in the case of Fig. 4. When the tickets are torn off, the fold line is returned to the position of Fig. 2, thus completing the cycle of operation from where the description commenced.

The action of the parts herein described provides adequate tensioning action on the tickets which resists disalignment during their handling and tends to maintain the folds, which have been accurately positioned in the manufacture of the pack, securely nested together. In particular, the disposition of the parts at the right as shown in Fig. 2 is particularly effective in pressing the nested together folds together closely and permitting these to serve as lines of origin from which the free portions of the Webs are stretched out in alignment just as we may align sheets by hand by bringing certain edges in alignment, holding them there and then brush ing or combing out the sheets toward a free and unrestrained end. It may perhaps be supposed that the action at the left-hand end of the pack is somewhat less effective, but, if this is in fact so, it cannot be observed in practice since the rearrangement of the sheets on every second operation of the register prevents any accumulated error of disalignment, and the particularly effective action at the right-hand end viewing Fig. 2 makes so much easier the aligning action at the other end as the parts pass from the position of Fig. 5.

I am aware that the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and I therefore desire the present embodiment to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive; reference being had to the appended claims rather than to the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. An autographic register for dispensing sections from a pack formed by webs folded in zigzag comprising a receptacle for positioning the pack, a table above the receptacle forming a support for a section to be inscribed, a guide at an end of the table located substantially one or more fold lengths from the remote end of the pack and about which the webs are drawn to dispose sections thereof over said table, springs in the receptacle for pressing the pack upwardly, said table presenting means at its lower face cooperating with the pack under pressure of the springs.

2. An autographic register for dispensing sections from a pack formed by webs folded in zigzag comprising a receptacle for positioning the pack, a transverse guide at one end of the receptacle and spaced substantially one or more fold lengths from the remote end of the pack, about which guide the webs are drawn to dispose sections thereof for inscription, the register presenting a supporting surface upon which said sections are so disposed, the register presenting abutment means to the face of the pack at one side of the plane of the guide, and means for yieldingly holding the pack toward said abutment means subject to yielding to the thrust of a portion of the web bowed or rolled up between said face of the pack and said abutment means.

3. An autographic register for dispensing sections from a pack formed by webs folded in zigzag comprising a receptacle for positioning the pack, a transverse guide at one end of the receptacle and spaced substantially one or more fold lengths from the remote end of the pack, about which guide the webs are drawn to dispose sections thereof for inscription, the register presenting a supporting surface upon which said sections are so disposed, the register presenting abutment means to the face of the pack at one side of the plane of the guide, means for yieldingly holding the pack toward said abutment means subject to yielding to the thrust of a portion of the web bowed or rolled up between said face of the pack and said abutment means,

and means for severing sections of the webs disposed at a distance from said guide substantially an integral multiple of the section length.

4. An autographic register for dispensing sections from a pack formed by webs folded in zigzag comprising a receptacle for positioning the pack, a transverse guide at one end of the receptacle and spaced substantially one or more fold lengths from the remote end of the pack, about which guide the Webs are drawn to dispose sections thereof for inscription, the register presenting a supporting surface upon which said sections are so disposed, the register presentingabutment means to the face of the pack at one side of:

the plane of the guide, means for yieldingly holding the pack toward said abutment meanssubject to yielding to the thrust of a portion of the web bowed or rolled up between said face of the pack and said abutment means, and means for severing sections of the Web comprising a relatively short upwardly projecting blade opposing a side portion of the webs and located at a distance from said guide substantially an integral multiple of the section length.

5. An autographic register for dispensing sections from a pack formed by webs folded in zigzag comprising means for positioning the pack against bodily longitudinal movement during the dispensing action, means cooperating with opposite faces of the pack normally pressed toward each other but yieldable to the spring of a rolled up portion of the web and a transverse guide around which the Webs are drawn to dispense a portion thereof, the register presenting a supporting surface upon which said sections are so disposed, said guide positioned adjacent an end of the pack and substantially one or more fold lengths from the opposite end.

6. An autographic register for dispensing sections from a pack formed by webs folded in zigzag comprising a receptacle for positioning the pack, a table above the receptacle forming a support for a section to be inscribed, a guide at an end of the table located substantially one or more fold lengths from the remote end of the pack and about which the webs are drawn to dispose sections thereof over said table, and yielding means for pressing together the folds of the pack at the end thereof remote from said guide.

'7. An autographic register for dispensing sections from a pack formed by webs folded in zigzag comprising a receptacle for positioning the pack, a table, a transverse guide at an end of the table and substantially one or more fold lengths from the remote end of the pack about which guide the webs are drawn to dispose sections thereof upon the table, and means cooperating with the pack to maintain in looped formation beneath the table a portion of the websucceeding that drawn past the nearer end of the pack to provide .a resilient resistance to draft of the thereof in substantialalignment with one end 75 of the pack a transverse guide having a wide curved surface about which guide the webs are wrapped in withdrawing them from the top of the pack directly beneath the table in order to dispose them over the table, the space adjacent the guide being unobstructed to permit the straightening thereinto of a portion of the Webs adjacent the end of a section which portion has been drawn about an arc of the surface, and means yieldable to the thrust of rolled up Webs for maintaining a portion of the section next sucseeding one drawn out over the table pressed toward the bottom of the guide.

9. An autographic register for dispensing sections from a pack formed by Webs folded in zigzag comprising a container for positioning the pack, a transverse guide having a wide curved surface around which the webs are drawn to dispose sections of the same for inscription, the register presenting a supporting surface upon which said sections are so disposed, said guide being located substantially one or more fold lengths from the remote end of the pack, the space out- Wards of said guide being unobstructed to permit the straightening thereonto of a portion of the webs adjacent an end of a section which portion has been drawn about an arc of said surface, and means yieldable to the thrust of rolled up Web for maintaining a portion of a section next succeeding one drawn out over said guide pressed toward the bottom of the guide.

10. An autographic register for dispensing sections from a pack formed by Webs folded in zigzag, a container for positioning the pack, abutment means directly overlying the pack, a transverse guide in substantial alignment with one end of the pack having a wide curved surface about which the webs are wrapped in withdrawing them for use from the top of the pack to overlie said abutment means, the register presenting a supporting surface upon which said sections are so disposed, the space outward of the guide being unobstructed, and springs overbalancing the weight of the pack and lightly supporting it against said abutment means, said springs being yieldable to the thrust of a portion of the webs looped or rolled up between the top of the pack and said abutment means.

WALTER E. OLIVER. 

